I'm so happy that you found the problem. And also happy that recreating her worked out well. She looks beautiful as ever! I think her new hairstyle looks great. It seems a bit less 'Cosmo' or 'coiffed' and therefore 'fits' better into Skyrim I think - if that makes sense.

Edit: I can think of no reason on Nirn why Xbows should be DG exclusive. Go for it, Andi!

I'm glad you recreated Andi/rea successfully. It is amazing how different she looks, even though her face is still exactly the same! The shorter hair is definitely more practical. But then again, that never let Bayonetta slow her down!

I've been playing with a whole lot of odd builds recently, and the latest is a ghost!

Mzthlft is a Dwemer who didn't quite manage to disappear with the rest of them. I'm trying to play her as unable to interact with physical items, so she has to use spells for everything. Right now she has a few inventory items but I'll be making her a cyborg companion to do all her carrying, except for a few (and I mean few) clothing items. The companion is possibly going to be unarmed, except for metal fists, which is why I'm trying out Illia that way. She should be able to pick stuff up and carry it, mine ores, etc. which Mzthlft can't.

So far Mzthlft's restrictions are enforced by me, but I'll maybe mod them if it's possible (and worth the effort). She needs to be able to read books (spell books, skill books) but not take them, and I'm still trying to figure out how to do that, when a book is in a container. Quest items are another issue, as the quests are often triggered by an item entering the player's inventory, and using the follower won't work. Potions are being used right now, but I'll probably use absorb spells, and boosted regeneration instead. That should eliminate the need for alchemy, too.

The regular ghost shader hides everyone in a cloud of particles, but I made one without that looks better for the player, who now doesn't have to look through fog all the time. I'll waste a lot of time fiddling with that, as I'd like to eliminate the glowing hair syndrome, too. No screenshots, until I make more Dwemer clothing.

More edit: I'm finding that a follower is too restricted in capabilities for what I had in mind. In particular, they can't loot a corpse, it seems, or pick up a quest item. It's also hard to control what they take from containers. "Take all" followed by the player exchanging items and dropping the junk would normally address this, but if I don't let Mzthlft carry things, she can't take/drop. Another issue is using soul trap. I can't put it on an unarmed weapon, so the follower can't fill gems.

So Mzthlft will have to do more than I hoped, and the "no physical interactions" idea is a bust. I'm still thinking of not letting her use potions. Scrolls are a borderline case, as she can read, and cast spells. I'll be playing her a while longer to see what tweaks her unarmed follower needs, and what other spells she needs herself. Mzthlft can cast soul trap, so I may have to let her use soul gems.

Even more edit: I'm still trying to figure out how to balance an unarmed-only follower. Bzuumz has been given upgraded versions of her outfit but doesn't wear the new pieces, as the game only looks at the stats of the base form. It ignores both tempering and enchantments, and keeps the outfit when there's a tie. However, since her unarmed damage increases, and her heavy armour increases, with level, she's not doing too badly.

Mzthlft wants to buy Vlindrel Hall, but she's not level 20 yet (18.6-ish) and with few skills in use, she's not going up very fast. Some "practice" with Muffle and Bound Sword has helped, but in normal play she's only using Destruction and Restoration. She should probably also use Alteration for mage armour, but we initially had issues with both shaders running together.

ghastley, your incorporeal Dwemer sounds very interesting! Would casting Soul Trap work instead of enchanting a weapon? I almost never use the spell, but Darnand likes it.

Perhaps if you made a version of the flesh spells with no shader they would look better? I made a Woad version that’s blue-tinted on the body for a Nord theme, but I’ve never tried no shader at all.

I love “Bzuumz” the companion construct. I can guess at her defining feature(s)!

Mzthlft bought Vlindrel Hall at last, so she's retired there while I work on the Bosmer Den.

Wizwen built it without the smithing equipment, and has just gone and become Arch-mage to get the Amulet from my other mod. Wearing it with her satchel isn't too over-powered, and it's very cool. The Archmage's boots add a bit of shock resistance, but she'd rather have frost resistance in Winterhold, so we may enchant some others. But then, Fortify Carry Weight would help, too. She might have to wear a ring. There's no plant material in that.

Sounds like Wizwen needs to get some rings, bracelets, earrings, ankle chains and toe rings to enchant.

*

We had a very neat but frustrating episode yesterday. Buffy was approaching Fort Greymoor from the north and passed a group of Thalmor with their Stormcloak prisoner in tow. One of Buffy’s greatest pleasures is legally causing the Thalmor trouble – up to and including their death.

Calling Kitsune up into the saddle with her, she ran Superian in, around and back out of Fort Greymoor’s courtyard, drawing its full complement of bandits out after her.

As she led them into the Thalmor, the battle was joined. Buffy circled wide and stayed out of it.

The prisoner and all bandits died and the battle ended with all three Thalmoor standing around.

At this point, Buffy would normally ask them what's wrong with worshipping Talos - a tried and true tactic that results in dead Thalmor and no bounty.

For some reason though, she decided to check the already numerous corpses first. As she checked the dead prisoner, it triggered the Thalmoor to go hostile on her – perhaps the game considered it ‘releasing the prisoner’ I suppose. Okay, that's fine as she intended on having to lethally defend herself one way or another.

At any rate, the compass displayed three red dots and the three angry Thalmor attacked. With some distraction help from Kitsune and speed/maneuverability help from Superian, Buffy’s bow was able to defeat all three Thalmor.

Uh oh. Top left screen: 'Last witness dead, bounty removed, blah, blah, blah.' But they were hostile and attacked Buffy first - that was the whole point! How could it be murder?!?

Sure enough, we checked Buffy’s stats. Her perma-zero bounty now showed 1000. Ugh. And she was so proud of her elegant opportunism. Reload a previous save.

Somebody should make a mod where handcuffs are put on Buffy. I would pay money for that.

1000 bounty. That is territory that Buffy rarely, if ever, has ventured. I will tell Rattler about this!

What was the highest bounty Buffy reached in Oblivion?

Or was she a good girl there and turned to the dark side since crossing the border...

BWAAHAA!!!! Buffy the moyderer? No way! But too bad the prisoner had to die in the melee,

Thanks!

Over the years, Buffy has accidentally clicked on a fork or mug instead of activating an NPC to talk a few times - and we just reload a save. Buffy murdered Earana in Oblivion (and would do it again) but no one saw her (no bounty). Both games are dumb when it comes to deciding murder so we don't pay any attention to her murder stats as long as no bounty is involved. In both Oblivion and Skyrim, I think the games have each given her about half a dozen murders that are not legit. Part of that, I'm sure, is her talent for illusion. If you change allegience of a foe via spell then kill them, is it murder? Part of it also is her penchant for sniping. If you nail a foe from so far away the game has not declared him hostile yet, is it a murder? Such is the life of a mystic archer. She almost never gets a bounty and doing so is an automatic reload for us. When she's a naughty girl, she insists on not getting caught. She also views a bounty as an indication of failure (not sneaky enough). Lol.

The clicking on stupid items like mugs or plates accidentally = have most def done that a billion times!

Awesome tale there, Acadian. Yes I know what you mean about non-legitimate murders. I liken this to human (or elven) error, sometimes people just get things wrong.

That Earana bow shot traveled across 3 time zones and passed customs 5 times. I remember it well.

Those were the awesome days when I literally had no idea what amazing story line you or mALX would come up with next. I long to go back to 2009.

And who would ever forget Mazoga the Orc or Kurdan gro-Dragol?

Buffy certainly had fun with those orcs.

I read this post at Reddit last week from some other gamer and thought I would share it with you.

It has some bad language (sorry ) but it was so funny!




**


So I'm pootling along just outside Whiterun, about 30 mins into Special Edition, feeling good with my Argonian mage (rolled from Skyrim roulette). I'm wondering what to do next when I stumble across the giant camp just outside the city walls.

Now, I saw the post recently on here about not tangling with giants if you're a single digit level, and yeah, that's all well and good.

But I'm role playing my Dragonborn as a badass, fearless, komodo dragon type [censored]. So I walk me and my massive brass balls into the camp, pick the Expert lock with no problems because [censored] you that's why, and stare the giant down as I put on my nice new fur bracers and fill my pockets with his gold.

Now this isn't exactly mega brave just yet because he doesn't aggro to this. As you know he'll only aggro if you start tickling his bum or fondling the mammoths. So I could just walk calmly back out and find some wolves to punch until I'm hitting the heady heights of level 4.

Unfortunately I didn't account for the OTHER giant (presumably his life partner) who was at this very moment sidling up behind me. So all of a sudden I'm blasting through the sky like Team Rocket at the end of 'Pokemon Emergency!' (Episode 2 of the Indigo League season and the first recorded instance of Team Rocket 'blasting off').

So I reload. And I'm standing just outside Whiterun. And I hasten over to the camp because I saw Groundhog day and I know just how to achieve success here. This time I loot the chest and INSTANTLY start booking it towards the city. As I've said I'm a level 3 mage and my measly flames are basically going to be like a warming foot bath for the lanky prick currently chasing me with a club.

So I need the back up of the city guards.

Luckily though there's a first stage response team ready and waiting.

The giant killing experts.

The dream team.

The khajit caravan have pitched camp just outside the city and are ready and waiting to aid in my struggle.

I sprint through them like a whirlwind (although ironically enough I DON'T have whirlwind sprint at this point because the thought of the frost troll halfway up Hrothgar makes even my lizards sizeable testicles shrivel up into tiny raisins), knocking pots and pans and skooma flying everywhere.

Their outrage fades away as Giant McGiantface comes pounding up. They look up at him with awe and fear briefly dancing across their whiskered visages. But then they steel their hearts and they put steel in their hands, and as one, they attack. 4 khajit start laying into the giant from each side like they're velociraptors in a Jurassic Park movie (but like, one of the good ones where they are shown to be scary motherf***ers and not the new one where they ride bicycles with Chris Pratt and make animal balloons if you blow the whistle in the right way).

For a second the giant looks perturbed. But then he remembers that he's a giant and within 7 seconds my fighting feline force has been reduced to a bunch of flat cats and he's scraping me off the underside of his hippy sandals.

Reload.

Everything happens the same way except this time the khajit seem to think they're in an episode of goddamn Westworld. As soon as the giant comes thundering towards them, they somehow recall the memories of being decimated by him before, and they override their self defense programming and they run for the hills.
So it's just me and 2 city guards.

At this point the giant is getting creative and this time he sends the 2 guards into the stratosphere, with such amazingly accurate club swings that one guard lands in a nearby stream and is immediately eaten by a family of mudcrabs, and the other lands in Fallout 4 and is killed by the linearity.

So now it's just me. The Argonian twat of a mage who's acting out his own personal Edge of Tomorrow, but in this instance hes learning nothing each time. I duck under the club swing aimed at my scaly face and leap up onto the nearby guard tower. The giant isn't dissuaded by the tiny path and follows me up, eager to punch my ticket for the last time so he can get back to camp and carry on staring at mammoths for an eternity.

I back pedal desperately, and fall off the tower, landing on a small rocky ledge about 4 feet up from the ground.

From here I can back up slightly and be beneath the wooden steps leading up to the guard post.

From here, I'm untouchable.

Now those of you who are lactose intolerant, stop reading here and go drink some almond milk, because it's CHEESE time.

The giant paces around me furiously, but cannot do a single goddamn thing as I besiege him with flames.

Crispy death comes for him out of my mystic fingers.

Really f***k' slowly though.

I run out of magika about 8 times, exhausting the few potions I had that could replenish it, and leading to lots of awkward waiting for my hands to reload as a slightly charred giant eye-[censored] me warily.

But eventually I did it. Eventually the torrent of fire laid the giant low, and he went to a better place, where he could chase sabre cats and frolic in amongst all the extra foliage there is now.

And for my efforts I got 57 Gold, a giants toe, and my destruction went up from 26 to 28.

Worth it.

Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. Thank you for sharing this, Winter Wolf!

SPEW !!!!! Thanks for posting that, Wolf! I replayed it three times on the reader, nearly choked to death laughing!!!!

I must confess to similar tactics when testing out Orc Hearthfires, which has the Cursed Tribe quest as a pre-requisite.

You can't take every character up to the level where they can take on the giant in Fallowstone Cave, unless you have a cheese strategy worked out. I found a ledge that the player can jump onto, and shoot a bow at the giant, that's just out of reach. Unfortunately, it's also easy to fail to jump up there when you're motivated by panic.

The other problem is that the giant's not stupid, and retreats out of range when he sees he can't reach. So you have to climb down, sneak up close enough for a few arrows, then jump up and run as fast as you can for the rocks. Shoot a few more from safety, watch him retreat again, rinse and repeat.

If at any time you fail to run soon enough, or miss your leap up the rocks, then it's reload time. In a grotto, you can bounce off the roof when you're launched!

And then I would find something wrong in the mod, and have to restart a fresh character to get past the save-bake. It's deja vu all over again, again!

Oh good lord, that was fantastic. Reddit really does turn up some gold every now and then.

Thanks folks! Glad that you enjoyed it.

I was going to send it to mALX via a PM but thought it was so awesome I had to share.

Ghastley- Bouncing off the roof. That sounds epic!

Oh yeah, that one most def needed to be shared!

Honmir stopped at Elysium on his way back from Ustengrav and was blown away by that mod house. Vanilla homes will never be the same now!

That was pretty funny. Tired Fallout4 bashing aside.


Downloading some Skyrim SE mods from Nexus. Internet must be running slow. Bored. Nothing too crazy, just the Unofficial Patch, Realistc Ragdolls and Force, a Vivid Weathers, a face improver, Ars Metallica, Unique Uniques, and Immersive Armors for now.

My current character Sinnaras



Having some fun with the Adept spells as he works his way through the College of Winterhold's questline. Light armour, shield, and magic is all kinds of amusing.

What schools are he focusing on?

Alteration, conjuration, destruction, and restoration. He's also getting some practice enchanting.

There's something I find very appealing about a skillset including: Alteration, conjuration, destruction, and enchanting. Restoration got thrown in just for the sustainability, but it has some very nice perks early in the tree.

This one likes Skyrim's presentation of magicka a lot. In Khajiit's opinion, the worst thing about it was the severely gimped spell list.

To me, there are several major problems with magic in Skyrim:


Firstly, there's the gimped spell list, as you put it.

Secondly, there is the lack of spellmaking. Without this, the player loses their primary tool in personalising the magic usage of their character. It's the equivalent of removing the ability to enchant weapons, and removing all enchanted weapons from the game. And, on a more practical note, being able to create a longer duration light sell would be so damn convenient.

And finally, there's the lack of damage scaling for destruction

Personally, I suspect that there is one single reason for all of this. Shouts were a new gimmick in Skyrim, literally giving the player the power of dragons, and tied into the main plot. So they couldn't allow magic to outshine them.

Sure, it's possible that it's just down to oversights, or RP blindness, or even the setting. But then you get things like the open effect, courtesy of the Tower stone, but there's no corresponding spell. The fact that destruction can't match the damage output of weapons, thanks to a combination of smithing and enchanting. And to me the presence of the College of Winterhold, and the length of time it's supposed to have been in existence, undermine any attempt to explain the shortfalls of magic away as a product of Nord prejudice against magic.

That's not to say that I dislike magic in Skyrim. For all its shortcomings, there is something more satisfying about its usage than there was in Morrowind or Oblivion. Even though it's inefficient, I love dual-casting. I love the concentration spells, though it's a shame there aren't more powerful versions available. I like that fire, frost, and shock are more distinct, thanks to their secondary effects.

There are some things in Skyrim that are the product of oversights and the like. The hand system creating the inability to take one hand off a two-handed weapon to cast a spell, for instance, which takes away from an otherwise great idea. Magic, on the other hand, gives the impression that it would have been better, but they chose to limit it.

All of those are very valid points. This one thinks that the favorites list and quick select made the "no spells while holding a two handed weapon" thing a non factor for him. I'd simply enter a fight, cast my big spell(s) and then hit the hot button for my two handed weapon and start swinging. Less convenient? Sure, but not a deal breaker for Khajiit. Though if he's honest, Khajiit doesn't play a lot of twohanded weapon War wizards in any of the TES games.

You didn't find the long delay in switching from spells to a two-handed weapon(which would of course include bows) irritating? It drove me mad. But the favourites list is very convenient, even if I do spend a fair amount of time shuffling through the dozen spells I've got on there

I'd be inclined to play a two-handed Battlemage-type character in Oblivion rather than Skyrim, just for the fluidity of being able to mix spell and melee without lengthy change-over animations.

Lol, Khajiit has a lot of patience!

I think Oblivion had the best Battlmage play. Perhaps since they won't need the shout button they can make that a block button so they can make the left hand do it's magicka thing while holding a two-handed weapon, in the next TES.

I like the fact that each magical effect moves at different speeds. Lightning moves at the speed of light, the way it should, for instance. Some cold spells move much slowly.

Spell-making in Oblivion could be so OP they had to do something about it, but I think they went too far in removing it completely. They could have used something like Soul Gems do for enchanting to establish a cap, which was the issue before. Maybe a two-effect limit, with the second as a perk, like the enchanting.

The other issue is that a lot of spells use a script effect, and it would be hard to incorporate those in a DIY system, but leaving those unusable for spellcrafting would not have removed much. There are items you can't disenchant, so spells you can't re-use aren't a stretch.

But they do tend to remove instead of fixing.

I hope they think along those lines, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.



I just wish the cold spells had a little more utility. Great effect, but there's just so much running around that resists them. But I like that it's a trade-off with the spells. Lightning might be quicker, but it tends to have a much shorter range and costs more.



Spellmaking was OP in Morrowind too, pretty much the nature of the beast, but one look at the Bretons shows that Bethesda have []never[/i] been interested in balancing their games. At least with the loss of negative traits for the races in Skyrim Bretons aren't so obviously the best choice.

I think a two effect limit would have worked, even if they cut it down so that the second effect was mostly just a modifier for the first, rather than letting you combine effects. So you'd still get the funky effects, but can more or less upgrade your spells, based off the relevant skill.

Lol, kind of curious what the next gimmick will be

If it's Hammerfell, my money is on sword-singing.

And if it's Black Marsh, they'll come up with some madness tied to the Hist, if there isn't some already.

*Khajiit shudders at the thought of an entire TES game set in Black Marsh*

You don't like Argonians? I love Argonians, have done since Morrowind.

And another point in Skyrim's favour here: The beast races look so much better than they did in Oblivion. Though I'm a little unsure of Argonian foliage/horn options.

Perhaps pretending it is a role playing game?

Lol, Khajiit thought the rivalry between the Khajiit people and Argonians is well documented?*

*In all honesty this one really doesn't have anything against the Argos, but he does wonder if there would be enough environmental diversity in Black Marsh.



Ooh burn!

Sheshko's first attempt to escape from jail

Palace of the Kings, Windhelm, 4E 201

"Yes, but why do you fight? If not for me, what then?" Ulfric Stormcloak asked Galmar Stone-Fist, his second-in-command. The Jarl of Windhelm and his most trustful commander had another of their looong conversations which everyone in the Palace of the Kings already knew by heart.

"I'll die before elves dictate the fates of men. Are we not one in this?" Galmar Stone-Fist remarked, his voice as hoarse as ever.

"I fight for the men I've held in my arms, dying on foreign soil!" Ulfric's booming voice echoed all over the main palace hall. "I fight for their wives and children, whose names I heard whispered in their last breaths! I fight for we few who did come home, only to find our coun....WHAT? What by Talos is that cat doing here?!"

Ulfric's and Galmar's conversation was abruptly interrupted by a Khajiit in ragged robes that came running from the palace's barracks. The Khajiit jumped on the long dining table and was running in the direction of Ulfric before he realized that the exit out of the palace is on the other side.

"Oops, wrong way." The Khajiit turned around and ran down the table, nocking fine silver plates with delicacies cooked by Sifnar Ironkettle, the Jarl's cook, all over the hall. By then a dozen of Stormcloak soldiers stormed in the hall, all of them after the Khajiit who managed to escape from his cell.

"Someone stop him NOW!" Ulfric shouted, enraged because:

1) his soldiers even allowed the Khajiit to come this far!

and

2) the dinner which he was looking forward to after a conversation with Galmar, was now ruined!

The cathunt didn't end in the Palace of the Kings but in the house of Brunwulf Free-Winter. The prisoner made it out of the palace and lost most guards in streets of Windhelm but the relentless steward and another guard didn't give up just like that.

"Do we kill him now?" the guard asked the steward as the Khajiit was cornered in Brunwulf's house.

"Hmm...that's what he'd deserve. But...no. Give him a beating, then throw him back to jail. He'll never again dare to escape."

As guards were hauling unconscious Sheshko away, the steward had to admit that this conversation between Ulfric and Galmar will definitely remain something to remember.

Poor Sheshko. Out of jail only to tossed right back in. He didn't even get to eat any of that dinner he ran through.

Man this is funny!



"WHAT is this cat doing here?"

I'm glad Sheshko's story made you laugh.

Cursed by Sheogorath

The new guard in charge of Windhelm jail was going crazy. There was evil magic afoot in the dank prison and he didn’t know anymore how to cope with it. It all began with a bottle of alto wine. One day he took the bottle of this fine wine with him, to have a sip or two when it got too cold on a shift. But when he wanted to make the first sip, the bottle was already empty! Shivers ran down his spine…did he drink the wine already and forgot all about it? Did he catch some disease that caused him to forget things?

The next bizarre event was related to arrows. The guard occasionally took a hunting bow and nine steel arrows (one for each Divine) on his shift. But one day as he wanted to sharpen his arrows, there was only one left. And the quiver was gone too, there was just one single steel arrow. What happened to the other eight? Was it a curse by the Thalmor who somehow found out that this particular guard carries nine arrows to praise the Nine Divines?

Then came the dagger. Then went the dagger, actually. His trusted dagger which was always at his belt. But when the guard was making another of his rounds in the prison, he spotted his very dagger lying on some box! But how did his dagger get there? He surely didn’t remember that he ever dropped it, he even slept with it!

And then went the bow. The fine hunting bow which he used not only when on duty but when hunting too. He took the bow to his shift but at some point he didn’t feel it on his back anymore…as he checked for it, he noticed the bow was gone! How come?

Convinced that Sheogorath cursed him, the guard asked to be posted to another position but his plea was denied. However, when the “bucket-event” occurred, the guard realized that there wasn’t any Sheogorath at work. When doing his usual jail round, he suddenly felt something heavy at his belt. As he checked what was going on, his eyes met with eyes of the well-known Khajiit prisoner, the one who caused a ruckus in the entry hall about a week ago. The Khajiit managed to tie a wooden bucket with a narrow rope at the guard’s belt but obviously this time he was careless and the guard spotted the bucket sooner than it was intended.

“Oops,” The Khajiit grinned.

“You pathetic fur-licker! I’ll show you!” He wasn’t allowed to kill prisoners just like that but he was allowed to hit them hard, and he made sure that the Khajiit felt it as he struck him with a hilt of his battleaxe, sending him flying backwards in his cell where he landed on the guards’ hunting bow, eight steel arrows and two empty wine bottles.

Good lord, that guard obviously doesn't have a sense of humor, does he? I like the way he carries one arrow for each Divine, but then he thinks some unseen spirit has punished him by removing 8 of them.

Sheshenko better cool it though. He keeps getting beatings, poor guy.

Delightfully told, Lopov! I quickly figured out the mystery and it was great fun reading how clueless the guard remained.

OMG, I laughed when Ulfric yelled about the cat!! Poor Sheshko! I love to say his name.

Ha, he is a prankster! I can just imagine him reaching out with a claw as the guard walks past his cell.

@Renee - being an escaped slave, Sheshko's used to beatings. In his opinion Nords are much more forgiving than his former Dunmer masters.

@Acadian - I was expecting that Sheshko would get caught sooner but it was indeed the bucket that exposed him.

@Grits - the guard very conveniently stopped right outside his cell. I wonder if that's the case in other prisons too but I think Sheshko will find out soon enough.

__

Sheshko’s second attempt to escape from jail

isn’t worth mentioning in details because Sheshko was stopped as soon as he managed to unlock his cell with a key he pickpocketed from the new jailor. A bunch of guards blocked his way and beat him. Again.


...a few days later...


Sheshko’s third attempt to escape from jail

Palace of the Kings, Windhelm, 4E 201

"Sir, there continues to be unrest in the Gray Quarter,” dutiful steward Jorleif reminded his Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak. News was bad but someone had to be the bearer.

"Blasted dark elves!” burst Ulfric. “I don't suppose you could tell them that I presently have larger concerns? Such as…THAT CAT! IT IS HERE! AGAIN!”

Jorleif couldn’t believe his own eyes– Sheshko the Khajiit once again managed to escape from jail. It hasn’t happened in the past fifteen years that any prisoner would escape but this Khajiit set free for the third time in ten days!

“Now that’s enough! KILL HIM!” shouted Ulfric, furious because of the incompetence of his own soldiers, but Sheshko didn’t hear his shouts anymore, by then he was already out of the cold palace.

The cathunt continued on streets of Windhelm but Sheshko realized that he won’t be able to evade guards of this small town because they kept popping out at every corner, so he made it for the exit.

Once outside, three gate guards continued the chase and when they heard him panting, they knew that their prey would fall soon and then Ulfric would reward them for killing him. But then something unexpected happened. They assumed the Khajiit would run over the bridge but he headed into the alcove on the left side of the bridge and without a second thought jumped down to the White River.

“The fur licker is crazy!” shouted the first one.

“He’s as good as dead!” remarked the second one.

“Nobody can survive that fall!” added the third one.

They stopped at the edge, watching the White River calmly running far below them. No sign of the fur.

“Time to tell Ulfric the good news,” said the first one and the smart trio dutifully headed to the palace to report their grand success.

If they were praised at first, they were scolded already a few hours later. When Belyn Hlaalu of the Hlaalu farm informed authorities that he found smelly ragged robes and matching boots in his farmhouse south of Windhelm and that someone stole some of his clothes, some food and a sword, and when Ulundil of Windhelm stables reported one of his horses missing, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

At the end of the day this one had the last laugh.

Silly Nords. They should have hired that one to be their official lock-picker. It's like when the FBI hires the world's best computer hackers, they do this because it actually helps civilization overall, to design new programs that even more difficult to hack.

So those guards kept *POP*ping from every corner eh? Meanwhile, Ulfric *burst* after learning about the dark elves in the Grey Quarter. Interesting.

Oh my. I hope Sheshko had a toe ring of resist cold! He certainly disrupted Ulfic's palace. Free Kitty!

Finally gotten back into Skyrim after my sprain-induced break from my 360.

Running a Dunmer Nightblade named Baltis Drethan. Having a lot of fun with him so far, though I've only gotten as far as Whiterun. Only one death so far, courtesy of a Redguard Spellsword that just refused to die.

Having a lot of fun playing around with Illusion. Halted Stream Camp is so much easier to deal with when you can hide in the shadows, frenzy the bandit chief, and let him kill the other two, and then take him out. Or turning some hired thugs against each other(inadvertently stole from the alchemist in Whiterun), which even got the attacked by the guards.

The only annoyance so far is that, because he went to Halted Stream Camp for the bounty, he's had to get himself involved in the MQ to collect his payment. I had been intending to skip it with him. No idea how far he'll decide to run with it, but the ball's rolling now, so it's out of my hands.